The affordances of different types of online space change how information is produced, circulated, and remembered across platforms. What happens when platforms enable the archival of information? What happens when they encourage collective experiences versus personal, inward-facing ones?

XHS’ genesis as a practical shopping guide has lent a pragmatic path dependency to the content. Comparisons to Instagram and Pinterest overshadow XHS’ comparative advantage of utility-led content rather than entertainment-led content. Baidu’s failing search and Zhihu’s rambling answers have led to a gap in the Chinese market for actionable short-fo... See more